Mini-Recap: The Amazing Race China 4, Season Finale and Season Wrap-Up

Here we are with the finale of The Amazing Race China 4!

Like I’ve mentioned, last year’s finale in Rio was almost perfect. Just excellent Leg design and tasks. So this year’s finale had some big shoes to fill. I don’t think it really did, but it was still great competition nonetheless.

The teams and Allan looked great in those classic/period outfits at the start of the Leg.

The first task was very interesting. Certainly not a typical finale task. But it was a good challenging memory task in a different sense. Skills of observation and memory were needed and it was pretty even for all teams.

I liked the puzzle at the China Art Museum. Beautiful structure. I love architecture, especially modern architecture. The building is definitely right up my alley. =) The puzzle was a good extra task for the Leg. It looked challenging enough. Just a Get it done-type of task.

Now the first Road Block was amazing! That was one of the most creative tasks I’ve ever seen on TAR. Referring to voice activated technology, using their voices and needing to maintain the 90dB to get themselves up instead of just pure strength and stamina to climb up a building was great. Though of course it must have been exhausting needing to scream the whole time up while having to grab the flags. Very refreshing take on the TAR staple. And it was definitely the loudest Road Block ever I think. lol Very fun and different.

The next Road Block was a little meh though. Taking tea time orders is a good task, but maybe a little underwhelming for a Final Leg? Though I appreciate the memory aspect of it as well as maybe some kind of dialect aspect as well, I think maybe this task would be better suited on an earlier Leg.

I was surprised by the train ride from Shanghai to Chuzhou. Though I understand wanting the Finish Line at the Heiheiru plant. Still, it’s a very random mid-Leg transfer and the winner was basically decided on this final task only, negating the rest of the Leg.

Anyway, this Final Task was the TAR13/TARPHDME12 memory task with the dozens of clueboxes and the board of clues. It’s definitely a good task, though this version had some clues attached so it might have been easier for teams to find the correct photos? Still, it’s a good task and it was even better that all three teams were there to Race side-by-side.

This Finish Line might be the fanciest and most elaborate Finish Line evah on TAR. But there was probably no more than 10-20 people there before the random press cameras showed up, so all the lights and red carpet stuff was kind of wasted. I know we won’t get all the teams back, but it would’ve been awesome to see them, especially here on the big, fancy stage.

Really, for such a great set-up, I think they kind of wasted it with the lack of excitement and celebration that I think could’ve been there had the other teams at least had been present.

But it’s alright. Any of these final three teams would have been a deserving winner. I do think Jia Jingwen & Xiu Jiekai were certainly the strongest and most consistent team this season. Though I was rooting for Wu Minxia & Zhang Xiaocheng the most after Wu Minxia did such an awesome job Racing on her own in Leg 2. Zheng Yuanchang & Wang Likun were probably the 2nd strongest team throughout the season, but they had some big missteps here and there.

Overall, The Amazing Race China 4 definitely continued last year’s great quality. I think the Legs themselves were a bit more tightly designed this year, but the traveling in between Legs got a little more crazy. lol The route itself was also a little awkward and seemingly a smaller budget than last year’s solid route. But the show seems to be doing fine ratings-wise and they’ve got plenty of sponsors to keep going.

As evidenced by this final greeting:

So definitely looking forward to TAR China 5 next year hopefully! It’s been another fun season.